Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Ramadan
Fatwa Audios
Month of Mercy
Women
Eed Al- Fitr
Food Recipes
Videos
Russian warplanes on Saturday bombed targets in Georgia, reportedly leaving scores dead, as a conflict over control of South Ossetia widened well beyond the breakaway mountain region.
Georgia's president declared "a state of war" and the United States led international calls for Russia to halt its military assault. But Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said his country would "force the Georgian side into peace" and accused Georgia of causing thousands of "victims".
Russia backs the separatist government in South Ossetia and sent in tanks and troops on Friday in response to pro-Western Georgia's military campaign to take back the province which broke away in the early 1990s.
Georgia said a Russian air raid had "completely devastated" the Black Sea port of Poti in attacks that the country's UN ambassador likened to "a full-scale military invasion".
This was followed up with an air raid on Gori, the main Georgian city closest to South Ossetia.
Russian planes carried out at least three attacks on Gori and the surrounding area, Georgian defence ministry spokeswoman Nana Intskirveli told AFP.
She said the attacks targeted a bridge and military bases, but also struck apartment blocks. The raids ended after Georgian forces shot down one Russian plane, Intskirveli added.
Apartment blocks were left on fire and witnesses told AFP that scores of people had been killed.
Cars and buses loaded with people fled the city headed for the capital Tbilisi.
Georgia, a close US ally, said it would withdraw its 2,000 troops from Iraq, as the army faced new pressure following reports that the Russian-backed separatist administration in Abkhazia said it had begun a military operation against Georgian troops.
"Abkhaz armed forces have begun an operation to force Georgian troops out of the Upper Kodori Gorge," a Georgian-controlled part of Abkhazia, self-styled foreign minister Sergei Shamba said on the separatist government's website.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said the army had repelled the attacks.
He spoke shortly after declaring a state of war, a form of martial law.
"I have signed a decree on a state of war. Georgia is under a state of total military aggression by the Russian navy, air force, large-scale ground operations," Saakashvili said. The Georgian parliament approved the emergency decree, which will last for 15 days.
Georgian and South Ossetian forces made rival claims to control Tskhinvali but Russia said it had "liberated" South Ossetia's main city after airlifting paratroopers.
"Tactical battalions have completely liberated Tskhinvali from Georgian military forces," General Vladimir Boldyrev, head of Russia's ground forces, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The death toll from the first two days of fighting was disputed.
South Osettia's government said 1,600 people had been killed. Saakashvili dismissed the figure as a "truly Soviet-style disinformation campaign".
In the streets of Tskhinvali, home to an estimated 20,000 people, tanks were seen burning, and women and children ran for cover. An AFP reporter in South Ossetia saw women, children and elderly riding buses toward the Russian border.
Georgia has caused thousands of victims by its "barbaric" actions in South Ossetia, the Russian leader told US President George W. Bush in comments reported by the Kremlin after their talks.
Russia also accused Ukraine of "encouraging" Georgia to launch its military offensive in South Ossetia.
"The Ukrainian state has in recent times actively armed Georgian troops, encouraging Georgian leaders to proceed with an intervention and ethnic purges in South Ossetia," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The United States and the European Union prepared a joint delegation to seek a ceasefire. Bush cut into his engagements during a visit to Beijing to call for an end to Russian bombing.
"We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops," Bush told reporters. "We call for an end to the Russian bombings."
The UN Security Council was to meet again Saturday to agree on a call for an immediate ceasefire after talks failed Friday. Poland called for an emergency EU summit on the crisis.
Georgia's top security official Alexander Lomaia said 10 Russian aircraft had been shot down and 30 Russian tanks destroyed, adding that one of the pilots had been captured and was being treated in a military hospital.
Georgian television showed footage of what it said was the corpse of a pilot from a Russian plane shot down, as well as the identity card of a captured pilot.
Russia has said only that 15 of its soldiers had been killed and 150 wounded.
South Ossetia broke from Georgia in the early 1990s. It has been a constant source of friction between Georgia and Russia, which opposes Tbilisi's aspirations of joining NATO and has supported the separatists without recognising their independence.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A bombed building in Gori, the main Georgian city near South Ossetia
AFP
Prayer Times
Prayer times for Doha, Qatar 
